No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey (17-1-0 overall, 7-1-0-0 WCHA) starts its three-week away series with a matchup against St. Cloud (5-13-1 overall, 2-10-0-0 WCHA) this weekend. With 21 points so far in the WCHA, the Badgers will look to close the gap to conference leaders Minnesota and Ohio State in their return to conference play, which was broken up by series against Harvard and Syracuse.

"We are excited to get back to league action,” said junior forward Abby Roque. “Obviously, we haven't played a league game in a little bit now, so I think it’s exciting to get back to playing the WCHA and trying to get some points.”

Building on the success against Syracuse, where it swept the Orange 6-1 in the first game and 9-1 in the second game, Wisconsin is focusing on getting more precise shots on goal and pucks in the net.

“We had 15 goals in the two games, and from that experience, we learned that we really need to just go to the net, crash the net, get pucks in the net, and that's how we will be able to score,” Roque said.

The Huskies look to bounce back from a sweep at the mitts of Bemidji State last weekend. And while St. Cloud has only had two wins in conference play, the Badgers are hoping to keep that at a standstill. The Badgers lead the all-time series against the Huskies 74-8-2. While they have an edge over the Huskies with a 15-game win streak, the Badgers are still cautious and prepared for anything that will be thrown at them.

“Going into these games, we have to be ready for anything,” said Roque. “A lot of the teams come out to play us as hard as they can because they know we are number one and they want to get that win.”

Although the Huskies only have one more win than the Badgers do a loss, the Badgers still anticipate a competitive and fast game.

“Every team in the WCHA is a great team,” Roque said. “That's why it's such a hard team. I think that this team is unbelievable, but they are playing some of the hardest competition in the NCAA.”

The puck is set to drop at St. Cloud State at 3 p.m. on Friday, followed by a rematch at 2 p.m. on Saturday.